Submissions

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters - Inquiry into and report on all aspects of the conduct of the 2016 Federal Election and matters related thereto – including overseas donations and the role of third parties

CCA's submission is based on a Position Paper developed in collaboration with the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and Philanthropy Australia.

As part of a move to ban foreign donations to political parties, the Government has flagged that it also intends to ban overseas funding to other organisations. The impact of this wider push may mean that registered charities are prevented from accepting international philanthropy.

This position paper has been prepared by a consortia of charities, led by the Australian Council for International Development, Philanthropy Australia and the Community Council for Australia.

This Community Council for Australia (CCA) submission briefly outlines some of the key issues for Australia’s not-for-profit sector in response to the Productivity Commission Inquiry Into Introducing Competition And Informed User Choice Into Human Services and the Draft Report May 2017.

Begin with what the policy is trying to achieve – what is the goal of DGR concessions?

The goal of the DGR process should be to encourage community involvement, engagement and ownership of issues they are concerned about. Encouraging civil society to own their issues of concern is not only good public policy, it is very good economic policy. Governments around the world acknowledge the benefit of community involvement and actively seek to promote philanthropy.